By Raymund Antonio
Vice President Leni Robredo recalled her campaign promise and inauguration speech to implement her advocacy programs that focus on those in the “laylayan,” or fringes of society as she marked her second year in office.
Vice President Leni Robredo (Photo by OVP/MANILA BULLETIN)
An advocate of the poor, she chose to celebrate her second anniversary as the country’s second-highest official by visiting Basilan to keep with her commitment to helping needy Filipinos.
“This is what I promised when I ran for office, during my inauguration—the core program of the Office of Vice President is to take care of those in the fringes of society,” she said in Filipino.
“And over the course of two years, iyon iyong ginawa natin (that’s what we did),” Robredo said when asked in Basilan about her achievements since she assumed office.
Her office in partnership with the private sector has reached out to poor communities across the country but Robredo now trains her sight to the many areas that are still in need of assistance for the remainder of her term.
“We hope we will be able to invite more —we still have four years ,” Robredo, a former housing chief, said.
June 30 marks the second year since President Rodrigo Duterte and Robredo separately took their oaths of office during their inauguration – a first in recent Philippine history.
The Vice President welcomed her second year in office in Basilan, where she had separate consultations with tribal weavers and out-of-school youth as part of her flagship anti-poverty program, Angat Buhay.
Robredo visited Lamitan City’s Yakan Tribe, who produces intricately designed textile through the traditional Tennun weaving. She also met with 20 OSY from Sumisip town to give them opportunities to study again and find jobs.
Her Angat Buhay works by linking up private companies with local government units and communities in need like those of Lamitan and Sumisip.
Currently, the program is being implemented in 176 communities nationwide with the help of more than 300 partners. This has extended more than P214 million worth of assistance to 132,018 families.
“I think the most important here, it’s not only providing assistance, but we have shown the importance of collaboration and unity of different stakeholders—they are owning the obligation to help our countrymen,” she said.
While she was in Basilan, Robredo expressed her commitment to put up a weaving center for the community within a year, noting how the weavers are “exposed to elements.”
“They don’t have a facility, they are working outside,” she said. “When it’s hot outside, they have to endure it; if it’s raining, they have to stop in their work.”
The Vice President also said her office will assist the Yakan tribe to organize their own cooperative, undertake capacity-building workshops, and link them directly to markets to have better profit.
“Because if this will not happen, they will remain laborers forever,” she said.